ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the question of whether universality in income support arrangements is associated with greater levels of popular support for expenditures than is selectivity, at least in so far as this can be gauged from public opinion surveys. It examines the relationship between views on pension spending and position in a system of social stratification cross-nationally. The reputation of public opinion surveys has suffered in recent years, most notoriously in the case of the 1992 General Election in Britain, where despite polls consistently showing overwhelming support for higher taxes and social spending, the Conservatives had a clear victory on a platform advocating the opposite. Considering the significance of ‘public opinion’ in relation to universality and selectivity in income support involves looking at the pervasiveness of ideological influences among the populace, as well as the causes and consequences of same. The lack of opposition to the idea of state responsibility for the incomes of the old is remarkable.
